Army officially deactivates only information operation command

In a ceremony Thursday, the Army officially deactivated its only active-duty information operations command, the service announced.

1st Information Operations Command was created in 2002. It provided red teams and opposing force capabilities against units that were training, and also offered the ability to synchronize information tools and prepare forces to resist adversary information warfare. It was slated for deactivation in the Army Force Structure Transformation (ARSTRUC) plan released in February 2024.

The decision to deactivate the organization was related to the decision to build three so-called Theater Information Advantage Detachments that will be 65-person teams focused on synchronizing information capabilities at the theater level: one in the Pacific, one in Europe and another that Army Cyber is orienting toward transregional threats.

Those organizations will be doing the day-to-day business of setting the conditions and informing commanders of the information environment.

That consolidation of capabilities meant the Army didn’t necessarily need 1st IO Command anymore.

“The inactivation of the command means the Army is turning a page. It doesn’t mean what the command has done is not still relevant, it just means we are going to do it a different way. 1st IO and IO writ large were created because the Army didn’t know how to integrate non-kinetics into the fight,” Col. Willie Rodney, who commanded the organization, said at the inactivation ceremony, according to the Army. “The rise of [multi-domain operations] demands the Army integrate the capabilities that are executed in domains other than air, land, and sea are in incorporated in the scheme of maneuver and the overall operations process. The need for IO is not going away with the command; rather, the Army is forcing it to be integrated throughout the service and its forces. Overall, it’s a step toward where we’ve always wanted/needed to go.”

Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, commander of Army Cyber Command, said in an interview last year that the Army needs information operations. The service must understand the information environment and commanders need to integrate information advantage as part of their scheme of maneuver, both in campaigning and in conflict.

Those capabilities must be ready to go and not just be resident in small teams similar to what 1st IO Command was doing. Rather, they have to be bigger and more all-encompassing by complementing information with cyber and electronic warfare, among others.

“As we transition into the next era of Multi-Domain Operations, we carry forward the lessons learned and the expertise honed by 1st IO, ensuring that our cyber forces remain agile, resilient, and ready for the challenges ahead,” Barrett said at the inactivation ceremony.

The move also comes amid a broader cut in information operations forces, as some Defense Department leaders and members of Congress have warned of a void in the information space.

The Army was slated to slash upwards of 3,000 personnel from the special operations community, namely in psychological operations and civil affairs. Officials have previously noted that those cuts will hurt the joint force’s ability to be successful in conducting information ops.

Members of Congress have derided those cuts and have called on the Army to reevaluate its decision.

The Army’s decision “to cut 3,000 billets from Army Special Operations Forces [was] a decision that both the [Special Operations Command] and the [Indo-Pacific Command] commanders advised against. Last year’s National Defense Authorization Act prohibits the special operations forces cuts until the Army secretary completes an additional assessment. Would you agree to taking a closer look at reversing these cuts?” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked Michael Obadal, the Trump administration’s nominee to be undersecretary of the Army, at his confirmation hearing on Thursday.